The Little Merman
by Jameson Matthew Williams
Summary: Allan is an American boy visiting Britain to tend to his sick uncle. While swimming in the English waters, Allan sees a mermaid, and decides to try and find it again. Little does he know, this mermaid will mean more to him than anything else in the world—and it will mean making a sacrifice to be with him. (Human!2P!America x Mermaid!2P!England) (Mertalia) (2P USUK)
1. One

Allan walked to the edge of the water, despite having been ready to go for a swim only minutes before. This was his first tine being near English waters- much less, in them- but his emotions were all a mess. He couldn't tell if he was excited, nervous, or whatever. all he knew was that he was something. A feeling; maybe even more than one of them.

He could see the waters as they were. They were sometimes clear and sometimes thick. He couldn't tell if the water was supposed to look like the rivers and oceans and the like back home or if it was supposed to be like he was looking through a glass of water itself. They were a mix, and he could see when the clear areas had salt or not. He couldn't decide on whether it was cool or kind of scary.

He watched how some of it moved in little swirls and how some of it was still and flowing. It was partially- emphasis on _partially_ \- interesting to him. But he truly wanted more than anything to return to his homeland of America, or, as the citizens of the country itself would say:

The land of the free

And the home of the brave

That was in their national anthem, and they would sing it proudly. America was known as a free country, and Allan was very proud to live in it. Basically put, he would rather be there- anywhere, in fact- but England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland itself. He only made a point to memorize the full name of it because he hated it so much.

It was too long of an official name, for one. Try memorizing that. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. America's full name was much, much simpler: the United States of America. Straight, sweet, and to the point, just the way Allan liked everything in his life. Well, pretty much. There were still some things that weren't up to his expectations, and that just wouldn't happen.

For example, any speech he heard spoken or any essay that he had to read or write was definitely not going to be short and simple. It was going to have many complex factors and was going to be over a page long at the least. And one of those things that he felt was never going to happen was getting a love life of any kind. Anybody that he had ever taken interest in had always turned him down softly or outright rejected him. After a few years, he just gave up on trying to find someone, and he had stayed that way for the three years following. Now he was nineteen, and he had no intention of changing his outlook on life or his plans for it.

He looked at the waters again. He was absolutely dying to go for a swim, but he didn't want to. Not in these waters. He didn't know if they were cold, and he hated cold water. Normally he would use up all the hot water in the shower after about ten minutes. It pissed off his family, but it got the job done.

He looked to the skies, which were taking on an orange tint with thin purple clouds. Had he really been just sitting on the rock a yard or two away from the sea for that long? He decided to watch the waves, approaching the water and getting closer. However, as the tide rolled in and began to splash, Allan was startled, and decided to go back to his rock, sitting there and glancing over to other edges of the sea.

That's when he saw it.

To the far left of him, there seemed to be someone coming out of the water. They didn't have any scuba gear on, and they weren't holding their nose when they came up. Only their torso up was above the water. Allan was rather confused and stared at the person for a few minutes.

He couldn't tell if the person was male or female, but they had short, messy (but obviously wet) light pink hair. Their skin was pale, and they seemed to be admiring the beach with whatever colored eyes they had. Allan chuckled, standing and going to approach the person. Then, they kicked their legs up out of the water. Except...

There was a tail in place of their legs.

Allan thought long and hard. _A mermaid? I thought those only existed in children's storybooks! What's a mermaid doing on the edge of English waters?_

He carefully approached the creature, grabbing its hand. "Hey."

The mermaid squeaked, pulling away, turning around, and swimming off before going under water as a whole. The whole experience made Allan chuckle.

"I'm gonna try 'n do this again," he planned aloud.

xXx

James sighed. "What the hell took you so long, Allan?"

"Sorry. I was having fun."

"Allan, you need to get a hobby."

"I have one already."

"You do, eh?"

"Swimming."

"How about another? Hunting or baseball, maybe."

"I'm good, James."

The Canadian sighed, looking back over at his younger brother. He wasn't wearing his glasses for some reason, but he seemed to be able to see. He was sitting on the couch, the cushion covered with a towel as well as him being wrapped in one, dressed in only his bright red swimming trunks. His auburn hair (which only he, James, and their parents knew was actually dyed and was naturally a medium blond) was soaked and dripping, and his skin seemed to be much paler than it normally was.

"Allan," James said out of nowhere, causing his brother to turn his head, "are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Why do ya ask?"

"You look pale and kind of exhausted."

He was hyperventilating as he looked up at James, being slow so as not to get James very wet. "Bro, I just went for a long swim. I'm fine."

James was quiet for a second, standing up from his spot next to Allan on the couch. He kissed his forehead, taking a towel and drying Allan's hair carefully. "Look at that. It's decently dry now."

"Thanks, Jamie."

He nodded, walking to the kitchen of the hotel room they were in. James was older than Allan by three days, but their whole family simply considered James the 'older brother', and he looked it, too. Allan was rather lanky when compared to James, who was muscular due to being a lumberjack back home in Toronto. He also had a bit of a stubble growing under his chin, along with long medium blond hair that he frequently brought back into a ponytail. He had violet eyes that he often hid with sunglasses that he rarely ever took off.

He and Allan were in Britain because their uncle Alric had fallen deathly ill while visiting there and had demanded that his only living relatives (besides his brothers, whom he never got along with) come and tend to him. They had visited him earlier that day, and he didn't seem to be doing so well, but at least he had them. They would be in Britain until Alric recovered or passed away.

James began to brew a coffee. "Thirsty, Al? I can make you something to drink."

He shook his head. "I'm going to go get ready for bed, alright?"

James nodded as Allan stepped off, still keeping himself wrapped in the towel as he stepped over into the bedroom. He pulled out his night clothes, which was really a light gray tank-top (it had a bright red fruit juice stain on it) with a dark gray, loose fitting pair of sweatpants. He took off his swim trunks, putting on a pair of underwear along with his night clothes. He looked out the window, glancing out at the ocean.

 _He carefully approached the creature, grabbing its hand. "Hey."_

 _The mermaid squeaked, pulling away, turning around, and swimming off before going under water as a whole._

Allan kept thinking about that incident. Was the mermaid- well, possibly mer _man_ \- all in his mind? Or was it actually real? He didn't know, but he sure as hell wanted to. If that was a real mermaid, he could sell or auction it off for a huge amount of money. But it was kind of cute. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, though. He kind of wanted to know that. Gender mattered in romantic relationships—

What the hell was he saying?

He couldn't fall in love with a stupid mermaid. He couldn't fall in love with something that probably didn't even exist. It was like those people that married inanimate objects. It was just messed up, and more often than not meant that they were too attached to something.

Mermaids only existed in storybooks. Mermaids didn't exist. Allan couldn't fall in love with something that didn't exist.

But that wasn't going to stop him from trying to find that mermaid again.


	2. Two

Allan woke around midnight, immediately rushing down to the beach and hiding behind the rock where he had been sitting before. He saw the stars twinkle above him, and the moon shone its bright light down onto the ocean below it. The American smiled a bit, looking at the picturesque scene before him before he heard a splash and turned the other way. It was back.

He carefully crept over, trying to get himself into a spot that was closer to the mystical creature before him. He saw it flip its sea foam green tail up out of the water periodically, showing the scales covering it shimmering in the pale moonlight. Speaking of pale, the same went for that beautiful mermaid (or merman) that was glancing off the coast. While it was distracted, Allan made his move and grabbed the creature by its wrist.

It shrieked, thrashing around and inadvertently pulling Allan down and into the water with it. It tried to get out of the drowning human's grip, but to no avail, as Allan eventually made it up onto shore, dragging the creature up a bit with him, careful to keep its lower half into the water.

"LET ME GO!!!" It shrieked, its voice sounding feminine. "LET ME GO, YOU MONSTER!!"

"Hey!!"

It stopped, starting at him. For the first time, Allan could see its eyes. Bright ocean blue, like the place it lived in. It greatly contrasted Allan's blood red eyes that he had gotten from no identified source. The creature made some kind of noise suddenly, indicating that it was trying to speak, but that it couldn't, as its words had gotten lost on the way to its mouth and could simply not figure out that they were taking the wrong trail.

Allan smiled gently. "We'll start with words. I'm Allan Jones."

"O- Oliver."

Allan smiled brighter. A mer _man_. "Cute name."

Oliver blushed. "I like yours, too." He was quiet for a minute. "Why did you grab me?"

"Because I wanted to see if you were real. If you weren't just a figment of my own imagination."

"No. I'm quite real, my good man. And so are you."

"Yea. Can we... chat?"

"Will you let go of my wrist?"

"Will you run away?"

They both stared into each other's eye for a long while. Oliver's ocean blue eyes staring into Allan's blood red ones. A still ocean staring at pouring blood. Crashing waves forming on a Red Sea. They began to see the other's eyes within their own. It was truly as described. Oliver's eyes were waves, and Allan's made them into a Red Sea.

"You're beautiful," Allan said.

"What? What did you say?"

"I called you beautiful."

"Do you really mean it?!"

"Yea. You're beautiful, Oliver."

Oliver smiled, tears quickly forming and beginning to roll down his cheeks. "That's the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me since Mother!!"

Allan laughed heartily at the same time that Oliver sighed dreamily. "Allan? It's late. I scarcely ever see humans walking out here at midnight. Why are you here?"

He didn't really have to think to tell him what he said next. "I needed to see you again." He sighed. "If it was actually true that you existed and that you weren't some strange figment of my imagination, I needed to see you again with my own eyes. The little glimpse I caught of you before you disappeared back into the ocean told me that this was something to see for a second time. So I did what I told myself to do: get a second look."

Oliver blushed deeply, his face going from pale with ginger freckles to a plain dark crimson. "Allan!"

"Hey, doll. Can't tell a lie!"

Oliver blushed an even deeper crimson, to the point where Allan thought he was going to turn some strange shade of black if he blushed any harder. "Allan!!"

As he said it lovingly, another much deeper voice shouted Allan's name with some sort of anger or hatred. Allan looked up above the banks of the rock wall that stood almost ten feet higher than the sandy beach and ocean below. Tracing from the light tide up from the clear sandy beach, going up to the crusty rocks with the occasional sand particle on them and grass growing on top, Allan saw his brother yelling for him, obviously concerned. Allan gasped.

"Ollie, that's my brother. I've got to go."

Oliver sighed. "Can I see you again?"

"Afternoon. When the sun's starting to set, I'll be here." He ran out of the ocean, his clothes and every bit of him soaking wet.

James gasped upon seeing him, running to the side barefoot and running down the cobblestone staircase, meeting Allan at the part of the beach where the waves met sand. "ALLAN!!!" He hugged him tightly, throwing his arms around his shoulders.

Allan choked a bit, mostly from embarrassment at being caught and hugged in a public location along with being soaking wet in the beach at midnight. He gasped as James suddenly shook him back and forth,

"James, what the hell?!"

"I thought I was going to have to call the cops! Your stuff was still there and your bed was a mess, your stuff was still arranged the way you left it and the car was still in the driveway, and your nightclothes were the only thing missing and..." James was out of breath at this point, hyperventilating as he held Allan close.

"I'm fine, bro."

"Don't do that to me!! What the hell were you doing out here, anyway?!"

"What the hell are you doing up so late?!"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!!!!!"

Allan was quiet for a few seconds. "I saw a mermaid."

James stared at him like he had lost it. "What?"

"I saw a mermaid, James."

"No, no. Don't even try that one on me, Allan. Stop lying and tell me the truth."

"I'm not lying! I really saw it! It was a mermaid!! Well, merman. His name was Oliver!"

"Allan..."

"I grabbed him by the wrist! He pulled me under and I dragged him back up! We talked, James!! We set a time to talk tomorrow!!"

He looked at his brother, whose face seemed to carry a horrified expression. "Allan... let's go home."

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No. I think you just need to sleep. You need the rest."

Allan sneezed. "Maybe you're right. Could I get some medicine?"

"Of course. Now, let's get you back to the hotel."

"Thanks, James."

"Don't mention it, little bro."


	3. Three

Allan woke, sweating and his face red. The first thing he did was roll onto his side with a groan. "James...!"

There was footsteps before James rushed in, dressed in sweatpants, the only thing covering his torso being that large bandage around it. "Allan!" He put the back of his hand to his brother's forehead. "Shit, you're burning up."

He panted, clearly having trouble breathing. "Inhaler?"

James reached into Allan's bags and pulled it out. "Here. I'll go get you something, alright?"

Still panting, Allan nodded vigorously as James ran out of the room. He pulled the cap off the inhaler, spraying it as he took deep breaths with it. He tossed it in his pocket, running out of the hotel quickly.

 _Gotta... make it..._

Allan could feel his vision blurring as he ran out of the building and out onto the beach view rock. His vision finally blacked out as he fell forward onto the beach.

"Oliver..."

xXx

Allan groaned. "Oliver?"

James grabbed his hand. "Are you okay?"

"What happened, Jamie?"

"I came back to give you your medicine, and you were gone. I searched the entire hotel for what felt like hours before I finally rushed outside to look for you. Your inhaler was on the beach view rock, so I looked down and saw that you had fallen off of it. So... I picked you up, called for an ambulance, and we were on our way here. What the hell were you doing out there?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. I guess I thought the fresh air would help."

"Well, you're fine now, and they said we can check you out."

"Where's Uncle Alric?"

James took his hand and led him out of the bed. He brought him down long white corridors with square green and white tiles, before bringing him back to a room down a hall. "In here."

Allan gently pushed the door open. Alric was laying on the bed, a few machines hooked up to him. He was awfully pale (even though he was normally), and his usually slick black hair was a sweaty mess. He looked up with a smile. "Boys!!"

Allan smiled, tears dripping from his eyes as he gently hugged his uncle. "I missed you." He held him close.

"Shh." He kissed his nephew's forehead. "I'm going to be okay."

"No, you're not!! You're dying... but you're all I've got left." He started sobbing harder as Alric pulled him up onto the bed and dried his tears gently. "You're the man who raised us because our parents never bothered to actually be there for us. You taught me everything I know. You- you-"

"...are going to be just fine." Alric smiled, holding him close. "Shh. Don't cry."

Allan kept sobbing into his shoulder as Alric pet him softly and as gently as possible. Alric sang gently to him in Irish:

 _Sasi sasi o to aro aro_

 _O angi si nau boroi amu_

 _Ni ma oe e fasi koro nau_

 _Dolali dasa na, lao dai afuimae_

 _Afuta guau mauri, Afuta wela inomae_

 _Sasi sasi ae o angisi nauBoroi nima oe e fasi koro na_

 _Dolali dasa na, lao dai afuimae_

 _Afuta guau mauri, Afuta wela inomae_

Allan gently fell asleep on his uncle. James picked his brother up and walked quietly out of the room.

xXx

"Fruit?"

Allan shook his head. "No."

"Salad?"

"No."

"I can make you a pie, even."

"No!!"

"Allan, you need to eat something. I'm not going to let you starve."

"And you can't sit there and let Uncle Alric die!!"

"Allan, I can not control that!! He is old and we're grown adults!! We're not kids anymore, and it is just that time in his life!! He is dying, and you just have to accept that, Allan!!"

Allan huffed. "I'm going for a swim." James seemingly ignored him, so Allan changed in the bathroom and ran out of the hotel in his swimming trunks. The second he got there, he saw Oliver on his rock and went to him.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked when he got there. "I was sunbathing on the edge when I saw you collapse and fall. You said my name."

"Yes. I had a bad fever, I could barely breathe, and I lost my vision trying to get out here. But I made it out of the hospital in time to see you." He was about to say more, but was interrupted by his stomach growling.

Oliver shrieked. "What was that?! A serpent?!"

Allan held him close. "Nah. Just my stomach. Haven't eaten at all today.

"How come? You need to eat to make it in this world!!"

He sighed. "My uncle's dying, Ollie."

He held up a finger as if telling him to wait. He plunged underwater gracefully with a tiny splash. He came up a few minutes later with a small, dripping wet pouch. "Make this into powder and slip it into his drink. He'll live, I promise you."

Allan took the soaked velvet pouch and lightly tossed it by its golden tie onto the beach, next to Oliver's rock. "Thank you so much, Ollie."

Oliver smiled, kissing his cheek gently. "Consider it a token of thanks for introducing me to your world, Allan."

He smiled. "Hey. Can I ask you something?" He took in a deep breath upon seeing Oliver nod. "Have you ever..."

Oliver got the message that Allan was attempting to send, and merely shook his head. "No."

"Would you..."

Oliver was quiet. "Why not? I owe you so much for everything you've done for me, don't I? And I'm sure that the cure for your uncle just simply won't cut it."

"Ollie, you've done plenty. If you don't want to do this, you don't have to."

"But I do want to. I want to feel this; I want to know what love truly feels like. Please. Now... I have this spot near the rocks that'd be perfect for us. No one would be watching us if they came here, you could reach me without going underwater, and you could hear all my moans."

Allan put his hand inside of Oliver's. "Lead the way."


End file.
